The Jamaica Estates - Holliswood - South Bayside Volunteer Ambulance Corps has maintained its identity as a group of caring,
skilled, dedicated, group of volunteers. As volunteers, we unselfishly give our time and skills so that our community may
benefit. Our payment for our work is seeing the grateful faces of the people we help and knowing that we made a difference
in somebody's life.

The need exists for drivers, attendants and dispatchers to serve along side New York State Certified Emergency Medical
Technicians who direct patient care. The Ambulance squad will arrange for necessary first aid and CPR courses. The rewards
of being a volunteer are endless. You'll also be prepared if a medical emergency should occur amongst your family, friends
or co-workers.

Our Volunteers are people just like you, parents, students, and business professionals who in their spare time help serve
their community in a very important way.

Won't you become part of a winning team? Think you don't have the time? - All we ask is that you can donate 12 hours a month.
You can do the minimum 12 hours a month or help as much as you'd like to.

Due to a shortage of volunteers we cannot be in service 24 hours a day, 7 days a week as we would like to be.
However we have the goal of being able to return to a 24 hour a day operation. But we can only do that with your help.

How Can I Help?

There are two kinds of members at the Jamaica Estates - Holliswood - South Bayside Volunteer Ambulance Corps riding and
non-riding members. Descriptions of qualifications are listed below.

RIDING MEMBERS

** All Ambulance Crews have a minimum of 1 NYS certified EMT on board.

All of our riding members are required to take a cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) course. The course is taught at our
headquarters and leads to American Red Cross certification.

After taking the CPR course, many new volunteers choose to take an Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) class. The EMT course
is taken at a nearby hospital, community college, or other volunteer ambulance corps. The course usually lasts for six months,
going to class twice each week. The course not only gives classroom instruction, but also practical experience through EMT
"lab" and an emergency room rotation. At the end of the class, a state practical exam and a state written exam are administered.
Following successful completion of the EMT course, the EMT student is granted state certification as an Emergency Medical Technician.
This certification must be renewed every three years.

Riders are also given the option to learn how to drive the ambulance. In order to become a driver, the new member must take an
initial driving test, then go through a period of ambulance driving training and practice.

NON-RIDING MEMBERSDispatchers  Dispatchers monitor and record telephone calls, answer radio calls, and direct ambulances to required locations.
These members are considered an important link for the entire ambulance operation in that they link patients to the ambulance,
particularly when simultaneous emergencies occur. A dispatcher plays an important role throughout the emergency, as they relay
patient information from the ambulance crew to the medical facility.

No driver's license or emergency medical technician (EMT) training is required. Dispatchers undergo in-house
training. For the first few weeks, the Dispatch Trainer trains the new dispatcher. During this training period, the new dispatcher
learns how to collect information from callers on the emergency phone, communicate with the ambulance crew by two-way radio,
contact hospitals, etc.

We are always in need of more volunteers:

If you would like to join us as either a riding or non-riding member, please call us evenings between 6pm and midnight, come down to our
headquarters any weeknight to fill out an application or download an application, fill it out and bring it to our headquarters.
You can also download an application here.